i just cobbled up a system out of bits i had laying around and some new stuff i was given.

celeron d (core2duo generation) 2.66ghz <- being replaced with a core2duo e6600 (when it arrives)
1.5gb ddr <- being replaced with 4gb ddr2
120gb hdd
my old system had a radeon 9800 in it, which i down graded to a nvidia fx5200 for compatibility reasons, and because it plays youtube and divx fine when the drivers work.

my system had windows vista on it. it was terrible. i was getting hit with all sorts of viruses and stuff. totally p'd me off. also i had endless trouble with vista not wanting to see the wireless network on my flatmates laptops, so i just hate it. it was slow, unreliable, made my divx and youtube lag like crazy, it just drove me mental. it was almost a relief when it got so bad i had to format it.

so with all the "top" versions of linux around i decided to try a few different ones.
first was ubuntu.
first issue i had was with the new unity desktop. wtf is this? 3 clicks to switch between apps? and it was god awful slow. mainly because IN ALL THE DEBIAN BASED VERSIONS, NVIDIA VIDEO DRIVERS DO NOT WORK AT ALL ANYMORE. seriously!!! i tried popping my radeon in it, but the legacy support for radeons is so horrible that it was slower than software rendering. so all the fancy ui effects are pointless if you have a video card older than 6 months, or use a version newer than 18 months. spent 4 days trying to get it to work. also tried linux mint, xubuntu, kubuntu et al.

so that was that.
tried opensuse. when i saw that 1.1gb of ram was used up and 400mb was being swapped i binned it straight away. (this is just with a music player going)

tried fedora.
same problems with nvidia drivers. i mean wtf? linux is supposed to breathe life in older pcs, not render them MORE obsolete than windows. anyway after a couple days with this one, something happened where the drivers loaded, but the system interface was slow. top showed low cpu use, free showed no excessive memory use, but it took 47 minutes to start up a terminal. definitely a bug in something there. also being stuck in 640x480 wasnt fun

so i got to the point where i decided to put puppy in just to save the stuff from my /home to my external hard drive.

not having used puppy for a couple years, i fired up the one which i liked the most back then, macpup (albeit the newest version) and saved all my precious videos of family, pics etc (which was nearly hosed by both windows and the other distros.

hmmm... this is pleasantly surprising. things seem to work without any system errors when i boot up and its all working pretty fast. even off the cd.

i wonder.... no its not possible. could it be? the mysterious nvidia-173 driver? seen in its natural habitat, the nvidia-173 is known to be an extremely ferocious, feral and dangerous thing. it has defeated a gentoo, a fedora hat, an african word, and a lizard.

will this really small and lightweight puppy manage to tame it?
i clicked on install nvidia drivers. chose 173.

2 minutes later hardinfo reported that i was using a 173 drivers. vlc played my divx fine.

i seriously, honestly jumped up and screamed with glee.

you will not believe the amount of frustration i have suffered with this thing.

i genuinely love puppy linux now, and i will never use any other again

p.s. i put a donation in, the developers should go buy themselves a few beers

edit: the distros i tried, but all of them did not manage in two weeks what puppy did in under an hour (including the time to download, install, update, and add all my programs)
ubuntu 11.04, 10.10
archlinux
pclinuxos
gentoo
opensuse
fedora
linux mint
debian
mandriva
lubuntu
kubuntu

over 20gb of iso's and drivers downloaded to try get a working system.
LOL

We are the Dorg
Resistance is futile
then again . . .
'Welcome to the resistance . . .'

Some people have a Love/Hate relationship with Puppy
but it is great for resurrection type scenarios.

Puppy rules for me.
At the moment thinking how best to
create an Android app for Puppy (he likes his treats)

I have used Puppy when he limped along (me pushing him to the extreme)
I am using him in Alpha 5.3 (Slacko aka Spot) day to day and that means I do not have the smooth experience of the Lucid 256 testers which is a more mature version. I believe alpha and beta users who offer even a modicum of feedback are essential to our big and open hearted developers.

I too have tried and continue to occasionally explore other distros.

I spent a couple of days with an Ipad2 (luvvly) and I think Windows 7 is far better than Fista but on my sisters machine (and she was protected and cautious) it is collapsing after 4/5 months of service on her netbook - boo

If Puppy collapses - new one is easy or just use your save file and do a new frugal (I run from DVD-RW)

Puppy is semi-geek
With Ubuntu you do not have a choice - you have to remain 'stupid' (controlled/protected). There is much to be said for the KISS principle

With Puppy you soon learn to empower yourself, protect yourself and help yourself. That is a good place to be.

I know that cry of glee. It has happened so many times.
The first time I used multi-session or got gFTP to work
or learned some new skill or came across some little command line util
with immense power. I have done podcasts and video editing, done an Open University short course, created logos, programmed - so many things all in Puppy.
http://youtu.be/n5fHNW9N9VU_________________YinYana AI Buddhism

IN ALL THE DEBIAN BASED VERSIONS, NVIDIA VIDEO DRIVERS DO NOT WORK AT ALL ANYMORE.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 minutes later hardinfo reported that i was using a 173 drivers. vlc played my divx fine.

i seriously, honestly jumped up and screamed with glee.

..Yeah,...I know exactly what you mean. With Lenny, I could get my old Legacy Nvidia to work,...but not with Squeeze! I've been pretty disgusted,...until I just tried Macpup (also like you,...I used the latest). I also just about jumped up and screamed with glee to see my ol' Naaaviiideeeaah up and working beautifully. Happy camper here, too.

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